Bypass

    I know, I said I was back from hiatus, but then everything in my life decided to jump in the blender and mix it up again. So this is going to be a fairly rambly post. Here goes.
    First off, I am currently working full time and I will be until mid October. We're in the middle of our busy season and one of our administrative assistants quit, so I'm currently working in the back and the other receptionist is covering my shifts full time. It'll be crazy until after our deadline and someone else is hired and trained, and I can return to my regularly scheduled working.
    I've also officially registered myself for a handful of online classes through Poynter NewsU and soon I'll be a certified editor through ACES (American Copy Editor Society)! Exciting, right? Yeah...Maybe...
    Around the same time I got that call from work, my computer stopped working. It randomly crashed on me and sat there with a blank screen instead of restarting. That was in the middle of the day Thursday, when I was preparing to blog, and I was starting my first class for my ACES certification. So, I spent the day pacing and waiting for Husband of Mine to get home. He took apart my computer and it's currently on bypass until a new part gets ordered.

It's Done

    It's done. Yes, you read that right. The second draft of Powerful is finished. I wrote The End for the second time last night around 9:50 pm. Ten whole days ahead of schedule.

I did it. I finished the second draft. Ten days ahead of schedule. 90,423 words. #amediting #amwritingfantasy

— Hypergraphia (@alliemayauthor) September 20, 2016

    I do have to apologize for my unofficial blogging hiatus as I pushed through to the end, but I was so motivated to finish that I couldn't take a break even to blog. In case you were wondering if it was worth it, I edited 4 chapters on Sunday, and 3 yesterday. I literally could not put my own book down.
    If you missed my lovely presence while I was away, you can always keep up to date on my Facebook and Twitter accounts where I posted daily updates to my progress (in addition to the word count bar on the side).
    I also shared a few quotes that I particularly loved from the chapters I was editing. Here are a few of my favorites.

Blog World Tour- Lesa McKee!

    Welcome back to the Blog World Tour! This month's guest is one of my good friends from Scribophile, Lesa McKee!

Lesa McKee grew up at her Grandmother's knee, listening to the French folk-tales her animated Grandma Ida shared. A love of stories was born and her imagination took off!

Q: What is your favorite motivational phrase?

A: For writing it’s one I made up - "Every paragraph should hold a spark with some bursting into flames!"

Tweaking the Schedule

    So I've been a bit busy this week. I ended up working all week instead of just the two days I normally work, so I lost a lot of my editing time. I also encountered some problems with my edits and ended up combining a couple chapters together, which is way more difficult than it sounds.
    Currently, I'm picking through the remains of a chapter where I moved the main scene to the beginning of the book, and now I'm trying to fill in space. Editing is hard. 
    Anyway, despite the challenges I faced, I did manage to get 8 chapters edited during the month of August! What a huge accomplishment! I know, there's still a lot left (16 chapters to be exact), but I have 29 days to finish and I've already edited one chapter so far this month. Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish-

Last Disneyland Trip of the Summer

    Summer is officially over for us, but we did get one final day to enjoy it. That's right, one last Disneyland trip. Our third wedding anniversary was last week, so we used that as our excuse.

    I know I've talked before about how much I love Disney and how it helps with my creativity and writing. Believing in the impossible is fun, but actually experiencing it is indescribable. 

Free Write #12

    It's been a busy week. Sorry that I'm a few days late with this post! But better late than never, right?  Didn't have time for a lot, but I did write this short story, so I figured I'd share!

    The king held up his arms and silenced the cheering crowd. “We have our victor! Please, step forward and reveal your identity, noble knight.”
    The princess yawned.
    Her lady in waiting nudged her. “Perhaps he’s handsome and rich!”
    “Yes, because that would be a refreshing change from all the others who have come to win my hand,” she grumbled.
    The knight stepped forward and removed his…no, her helmet. Long brunette curls erupted from the helmet and settled around the victor’s waist. Finally, she looked up and smiled. “My princess.”
    “Mother?” The princess jumped out of her seat.

Query Letters

    First, a quick announcement- I was interviewed by my good friend, Krisna, as part of the Blog World Tour. You can see that interview here!
    Now, as I mentioned last week, I started working on writing my first query letter for Powerful and I've received a lot of feedback from my writing group. It's really been an interesting learning experience for me. 

    There are a few different parts of a query letter, and it can change between different agents and publishers. The most important thing is to Look carefully at submission guidelines.